4 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



results. Birds will not be found at all places that seem favorable for 

 them in winter, and they may be abundant at a particular locality at one 

 time and be entirely absent at another. They can often be located by 

 their calls ; and for this reason it is desirable to stop and listen now and 

 then. When birds are found, it is a good plan to follow them if their 

 movements are progressive in any particular direction. The observer 

 should move as slowly, quietly, and steadily as possible. When such 

 precautions are taken much can often be learned about the ways of winter 

 birds for they are not usually hard to approach at this season. Good field 

 or opera glasses give the student a great advantage in making observations. 

 All interesting and important actions of the birds should be noted; and 

 whenever they are seen to eat, the nature of the food ought to be deter- 

 mined if possible. When there is snow on the ground, much can be 

 found out by examining bird tracks. 



The Winter Bird Restaurant and Winter Visitors at Quincy. 



Mr. T. E. Musselman, writing from Quincy, says: 



No doubt all lovers of bird life wish to surround themselves with 

 everything which will attract birds. I suggest the selection of a site for a 

 bird restaurant on some tree which is near enough the house to allow the 

 study of birds. To attract the birds a careful distribution of foods must 

 be made so as to tempt birds of every kind. 



First suet should be placed about six feet up the tree trunk in a suet 

 bird feeder, or it should be nailed to the tree and a piece of one inch 

 mesh chicken wire put over it to prevent squirrels or jays from indulging 

 too freely. About a foot beneath this, a shelf or box should be fitted 

 to the tree to catch the suet chips which fall while birds are feeding. 



On the shelf a variety of foods should be given. Supply finely chopped 

 acorns, cracked hickory nuts, also bread crumbs and fine grain. 



During the season when grasshoppers are numerous I collect a large 

 number of these insects and dry them. The birds are very fond of them. 



I also suggest the nailing of an entire sunflower to the tree. Birds 

 like the seed and will work busily all day about the huge head. 



I have experimented with elm and maple seeds which are so numerous 

 in the gutters in some seasons of the year. The squirrels like these better 

 than the birds, although by dampening them and covering them with 

 a moist cloth, I find that upon swelling, they make good green food which 

 the birds relish. Also, should any robins remain during the winter, apple 

 cores and wormy raisins are greedily picked at and eaten. 



Juncoes and some other varieties of sparrows will seldom rise to the 

 shelf but prefer to glean what few tidbits are scattered on the ground 

 by the hungry feeders above. During the winter place some sweepings 

 from the hay mow in the shelf box and scatter the other food therein. 

 I also scatter an abundance of this, together with cracker crumbs, at the 

 base of the tree. 



The result is that throughout the winter I have a dozen varieties of 

 birds or daily boarders and the occasional stray bird which drops in for a 

 hand-out makes the study that much more interesting. 



